The first thing I would like to do is thank you for visiting this blog. The intention here has always been to try to help as many runners as possible become the best runners they can be, with advice, anecdotes, reviews and interviews. The other intention is to make as many friends as possible in the running world.

The blog is intentionally non-commercial because I want, as far as possible, to be able to write what I want, when I want and about what I want. I have a feeling that if I take money from advertisers or sponsors, I will lose that ability.

I also have to make a living and at the end of 2012, along with my wife Julie, I set up a social media marketing consultancy for running and endurance sports brands. The business is called freestak and you can find out about it at www.freestak.com.

The website is where we will write about all the things we discover as we build our business and create more and more social media campaigns and projects for our clients as well as the things we learn from others along the way. If you are involved with a business that is trying to reach runners or endurance athletes, please get in touch: we’d love to find out about your challenges and perhaps suggest ways in which social networks can play a part in your marketing.

There is also a social side of freestak – a Facebook page that you can check out here. This is the place where we will post tips, inspiration, competitions and offers that we come across that we think will be of interest to runners of all levels. It is a great opportunity for us to engage with runners and find out what they are interested in and what they find useful or interesting.

If you think that freestak can help you, please get in touch and if you have any suggestions for the blog, please let me know.

Simon.